SA: …There are few states where Democrats hold quite the advantage as Hawaii Dems do, and there seem few prospects for overturning the balance of power in the foreseeable future. And that’s truly lamentable, for a democracy benefits from challenges by a robust second, or even third, political party….

The state party had its convention last weekend at Waikoloa, and seemed at least superficially to be relying on the one playbook with a unifying theme: opposition to President Donald Trump. No doubt this is a point around which the party is rallying, nationally.

Democratic leaders from Hawaii and other states, however, should be seeking a more affirmative platform, as negative campaigning has its utility but may not inspire the voters as much as imagined….

The elections of 1954 is the line of demarcation (but) …

As the party became entrenched, however, money followed the new power structure. Some of the interest groups — the unions, larger businesses, to name two categories — became the new elites. The labor movement began to shed private-sector membership, leaving public-sector unions among the primary beneficiaries of the new political ruling class.

Successive labor contracts increased wages and retirement and health benefits to the point at which the state now faces a crippling liability for its unfunded benefits.

What seems to have emerged is an elitist social stratification in which people are placed on the basis of economic status rather than race. Hawaii is as diverse as it ever was, but there are clear haves and have-nots. Those who managed to secure property are the “in” crowd, while the poor are on the outs, and sliding further into poverty.

It’s seen everywhere, in the rents that strain working families’ budgets, in the homelessness suffered by many who earn too little to afford the basics….

DK: …The state with the highest percentage of multiracial people is, by far, Hawaii. That may not be surprising, since it’s a state without any clear racial majority (Hawaii as a whole breaks down as around 38 percent Asian, 23 percent non-Hispanic white, 10 percent Native Hawaiian, 9 percent Hispanic, and 24 percent from two or more races) and where there isn’t a lot of geographic segregation.

If you drill down a little deeper, though, you’ll find that there’s a significantly higher percentage of people claiming “two or more” races in Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district, rather than its 1st district. (The rate is 26 percent in the 2nd, and 22 percent in the 1st.) For context, the 1st district is basically limited to what’s thought of as Honolulu, while the 2nd district consists of all the other islands in the state as well as the non-Honolulu portion of Oahu. (I say “thought of as Honolulu” because there aren’t city limits to Honolulu; the entire island of Oahu is administered as one municipal entity, Honolulu County. Most of the island’s population is concentrated into a much smaller urban and suburban area, though.)

The key difference between the two districts is that the 1st district—Honolulu proper and its close-in suburbs like Pearl City and Ewa Beach—mostly consists of people who are Asian alone (they’re around 50 percent of HI-01’s population). The 2nd district winds up being the “everybody else” district, with only 27 percent of its population being Asian alone; for instance, two-thirds of Hawaii’s white population is in the 2nd (much of Hawaii’s white population is on Maui, and Oahu’s white residents are disproportionately found in the further-out suburb of Kailua), and the bulk of Hawaii’s Native Hawaiian population is either on the other islands or in the rural parts of Oahu….

Haena: Overwhelmed with Pilgrims, Eco-Religionists Seek Cap of 900 a Day

SA: …The state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday reviewed a master plan that would only allow 900 — rather than 2,000 — visitors per day at the popular park, which is the gateway to the Napali Coast State Wilderness Park and popular Kalalau Trail. The board recommended that Gov. David Ige approve the final environmental impact statement prepared by PBR Hawaii, and give the BLNR leader authority to approve the final master plan, which has been in the works for 20 years.

It is the state park division’s first attempt to reduce daily patronage at a park. Haena State Park is visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year….

SA: …I conducted a Google search (“Styrofoam ban Hawaii”) to generate a list of websites and articles in support and in opposition to the ban. I researched each argument using published reports and scientific papers (which are always truuuuue) to determine the credibility of the claims.

Next, I scored each argument on a range of truthfulness (true, mostly true, half true, mostly false, false, pants on fire). This range was based on the “truth-o-meter” approach created by the fact-checking website Politifact.com. I researched 36 arguments (23 opposing ban; 13 supporting ban) and read over 40 articles and reports to determine the accuracy of each claim.

The results? (We all know the ocean is full of plastic gyres so I didn’t bother to check that.) Many (60 percent) of the arguments opposing the polystyrene ban tended to be half-true and mostly false. An example of a “half-true” anti-ban argument was that alternatives to polystyrene food containers were expensive and would unfairly burden small businesses. While it was true that polystyrene food ware alternatives were more expensive per unit (5 cents to 20 cents oooops!), these costs can be passed on to the consumer (or magic elves). A 2011 Honolulu study (by us activists) found that 81 percent of residents surveyed would pay more for alternative food containers and supported a shift away from polystyrene. In fact, a report (written by us activists) on the effect of a polystyrene food container ban in the San Jose, Calif., area found that no businesses failed as result of the ban (but does not discuss lost income short of bankruptcy) ….

ACW: …NPR reported that a 2015 study of coral reefs in Hawaii, the United States Virgin Islands and Israel determined oxybenzone "leaches the coral of its nutrients and bleaches it white. It can also disrupt the development of fish and other wildlife." (This is a truly illiterate statement. ‘Coral bleaching’ refers to the temporary departure of algae attached to corals. Those algae supply carbohydrates to the corals.)

The statement argued that the ban was based on weak science, blaming sunscreens for damage to coral reefs.

"This irresponsible action will make it more difficult for families to protect themselves against the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, and it is contrary to the many concerns expressed by Hawaii’s medical doctors, dermatologists and public health experts,” the statement reads.

"Banning oxybenzone and octinoxate – key ingredients in effective sunscreens on the market – will drastically and unnecessarily reduce the selection of safe and effective sunscreen products available to residents and visitors. Oxybenzone and octinoxate, found in the majority of sunscreens, are safe and effective over-the-counter active ingredients recognized by the FDA as important aides in decreasing the risk of developing skin cancer, the most common cancer in the U.S.,” the statement reads….

However, some organizations feel that chemical sunscreens could have other harmful effects. A few companies, such as All Good, have been making sunscreens without oxybenzone and other potentially toxic chemicals for years. The Huffington Post outlines some of the potential negative impacts of these chemical sunscreens. ($$$$)

Mineral sunscreens that use zinc oxide or titanium dioxide to physically block the sun's rays are still allowed.